Variations and trends in state nursing facility capacity: 1978-93.

The demand for nursing facility (NF) beds has been growing with the aging of the population and many other factors. As the need for nursing home care grows, the Nation's capacity to provide such care is the subject of increasing concern. This article examines licensed NFs and beds, presenting data on trends from 1978-93. Measures of the adequacy of NF beds in States are examined over time, including the ratio of beds per aged population, occupancy rates, and State official's opinions of the adequacy of supply. State and regional variations are shown over time, and we speculate on the factors which may be associated with the variation

Social/health maintenance organization and fee-for-service health outcomes over time.

Evaluating the performance of long-term care (LTC) demonstrations requires longitudinal assessment of multiple outcomes where selective mortality and disenrollment, if not accounted for, can give the appearance of reduced (or enhanced) efficacy. We assessed outcomes in social/health maintenance organizations (S/HMOs) and Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) care using a multivariate model to estimate active life expectancy (ALE). S/HMO enrollees and samples of FFS clients in four sites were analyzed and outcome differences assessed for a 3-year period. Results provide insights into S/HMO performance under different conditions and, more generally, into evaluating LTC demonstrations without randomized client and control groups

Determination of the urinary aglycone metabolites of vitamin K by HPLC with redox-mode electrochemical detection

We describe a method for the determination of the two major urinary metabolites of vitamin K as the methyl esters of their agyclone structures, 2-methyl-3-(3-3-carboxymethylpropyl)-1,4-naphthoquinone (5C-side-chain metabolite) and 2-methyl-3-(5-carboxy-3-methyl-2-pentenyl)-1,4-naphthoquinone (7C-side-chain metabolite), by HPLC with electrochemical detection (ECD) in the redox mode. Urinary salts were removed by reversed-phase (C18) solid phase extraction (SPE) and the predominately conjugated vitamin K metabolites hydrolysed with methanolic HCl. The resultant carboxylic acid aglycones were quantitatively methylated with diazomethane and fractionated by normal-phase (silica) SPE. Final analysis was by reversed-phase (C18) HPLC with a methanol-aqueous mobile phase. Metabolites were detected by amperometric, oxidative ECD of their quinol forms, which were generated by post-column coulometric reduction at an upstream electrode. The assay gave excellent linearity (r2 typically = 0.999) and high sensitivity with an on-column detection limit of <3.5 fmol (<1pg). The inter-assay precision was typically 10%. Metabolite recovery was compared to that of an internal standard (2-methyl-3-(7'-carboxy-heptyl)-1,4-naphthoquinone), added to urine samples just before analysis. Using this methodology we confirmed that the 5C- and 7C-metabolite were major catabolites of both phylloquinone (vitamin K1) and menaquinones (vitamin K2) in humans. We propose that the measurement of urinary vitamin K metabolite excretion is a candidate non-invasive marker of total vitamin K status

A TYPICAL FARM SERIES: DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION TO A MISSISSIPPI DELTA FARM

Farm Management,

Triple-Pomeron Matrix Model for Dispersive Corrections to Nucleon-Nucleus Total Cross Section

Dispersive corrections to the total cross section for high-energy scattering from a heavy nucleus are calculated using a matrix model, based on the triple-Pomeron behavior of diffractive scattering from a single nucleon, for the cross section operator connecting different states of the projectile nucleon . Energy-dependent effects due to the decrease in longitudinal momentum transfers and the opening of more channels with increasing energy are included. The three leading terms in an expansion in the number of inelastic transitions are evaluated and compared to exact results for the model in the uniform nuclear density approximation for the the scattering of nucleons from Pb^{208} for laboratory momenta ranging from 50 to 200 GeV/c.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, RevTex

Host Selection of the giant willow aphid (Tuberolachnus salignus)

The giant willow aphid [Tuberolachnus salignus (Gmelin)] has recently become noteworthy as a potential pest species due to the increased uptake of willow, its host-plant, for use in growing biomass for energy production. In this paper we describe host selection studies of T. salignus on short rotation coppice (SRC) willow varieties in laboratory bioassays and field experiments. In laboratory olfactometry tests, T. salignus was significantly attracted to certain SRC willow varieties, but not to others. Field trials during 2007 and 2008 showed that T. salignus infestation levels varied significantly on different SRC willow varieties and that levels are highest on the varieties to which they are most strongly attracted in the laboratory bioassays

Scientific Yield of Meteorites Recovered from the Dominion Range, Transantarctic Mountains

The US Antarctic Meteorite Program has visited the Dominion Range in the Transantarctic Mountains during several different seasons, including the 1985, 2003, 2008, 2010, and 2014 seasons. Total recovered meteorites from this region is over 2000. The 1985 (11 samples), 2003 (141 samples), 2008 (521) and 2010 (901 samples) seasons have been fully classified, and the 2014 samples (562) are in the process of being classified and characterized. Given that close to 1500 samples have been classified so far, it seems like a good opportunity to summarize the state of the collection. Here we describe the significant samples documented from this area, as well as a large meteorite shower that dominates the statistics of the region

Historical Trends in U.S. Antarctic Meteorite Allocations, With a Close Look at Cr Chondrites

ANSMET samples have been housed at and allocated from NASA-JSC since 1978. This nearly 40 year history of allocations from the collection has been contemporaneous with many major milestones such as the discovery that we have meteorites from Moon and Mars, missions to S-type asteroids (NEAR, Hayabusa, Dawn), and C-type asteroids (Dawn, Hayabusa 2, and OSIRIS-REx). We look for the possible influence of these major milestones on historical trends in the meteorite allocations, identify other factors that might contribute to allocation trends, and focus on the allocation history of a few select meteorites

Electromagnetic multipole theory for optical nanomaterials

Optical properties of natural or designed materials are determined by the electromagnetic multipole moments that light can excite in the constituent particles. In this work we present an approach to calculate the multipole excitations in arbitrary arrays of nanoscatterers in a dielectric host medium. We introduce a simple and illustrative multipole decomposition of the electric currents excited in the scatterers and link this decomposition to the classical multipole expansion of the scattered field. In particular, we find that completely different multipoles can produce identical scattered fields. The presented multipole theory can be used as a basis for the design and characterization of optical nanomaterials

Minimum requirements and recommendations for a complete vision examination: A survey of requirements and recommendations from state boards of optometry

A definition of a complete vision exam has never been universally acknowledged. Guidelines have been developed by many individual state Boards of Optometry and by the American Optometric Association listing specific requirements or recommendations for a complete vision examination. This study is a compilation of individual state Boards of Optometry\u27s requirements and recommendations for complete vision examinations. Letters were sent to all fifty state Boards of Optometry requesting information regarding their requirements and/or recommendations for complete vision examinations. Thirty-three Boards of Optometry responded with information. Ofthose, twelve have no requirements, three refer directly to the American Optometric Association\u27s guidelines, and eighteen have a range of requirements and/or recommendations. Inconsistencies between state boards are more abundant than areas of agreement in terms of required/recommended procedures. Optometry would benefit from standard guidelines. This would give optometry more professional and legal leverage by virtue of decreasing inconsistencies that exist, increasing overall quality assurance of complete vision examinations, and providing a template for patient care